


The truth of losing

by SecretTimeIsHere



Series: Things happen bingo [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dreamtale, HorrorTale, Killer's timeline, Tree of feelings, XTale, antivoid, dusttale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-29 04:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretTimeIsHere/pseuds/SecretTimeIsHere
Summary: Bad things happen bingo prompts: Loss of sight and Truth potion/serum.Nightmare goes blind after an attack, what happens and how does it affect the "Dark, cold and emotionless King"?“You really care for them, don’t you?” Dream’s voice rung, quiet enough to not wake the sleeping skeletons around him, but loud enough for Nightmare to hear.“You caught me, look at the cold brute of an emotionless King, caring for 4 others like his own sons. Tell the news of this new amazing story that no one will ever believe because this negative skeleton can’t be himself.” Nightmare’s sarcastic voice replied, going more truthful at the end.(Teen and up to be safe, it dives into dark subjects as toxic relations, depression, self-harming, and a few more things.)





	The truth of losing

A positive arrow through his eye socket, apparently that’s all it took to take away his vision- that and for him to lose his whole team. It was only a matter of time before he died from dehydration or starvation, or went insane from the silence, or the star sans’ with his team barged in. 

A loud bang sounded from inside the mansion, thankfully, he was outside. He sat alone in the gardens of his land, the tree looming over in front of him, although, he only knew that because he could feel the cold of its shadow as he sat in it. The sun beamed down on the plants around him, having being rained on that morning, they were all watered and smelling lovely. As if they were all in full bloom.

“Nightmare! Give up your reign!” Dream shouted, making his eardrums shudder. A chorus of footsteps followed, all of them seemingly gathering around him in a circle, making sure he had no escape. He felt the air grow colder from the negativity he gained. All the hatred for him spilling out into the air, surprisingly, he was unmoved by this.

Nightmare stayed calm and sat still, unmoving. Emotionless. Indifferent. Cold. That’s what they wanted. That’s what he’d give them.

The King was used to being hated, he was used to being feared. Some say they’d rather be disliked for who they are than loved for who they aren’t- but the opposite is the case here. He’s hated for what people have made him be and who they perceive him as; he can’t even be himself anymore- and he’d be called a fake if he tried to act normally anyway.

Fake for trying to get into people minds. Fake for gaining their trust. Fake for taking care of them. That’s all his life is now anyway, a fake persona with a fake story that has been retold more times than any rumor, a fake person that shouldn’t exist in the eyes of the multiverse.

“What other choice do I have?” Nightmare replied, still calm as he slowly stood up, “I request only one thing before you take me away from my home for the last 500 years. I wish to say goodbye to the tree one last time.”

Dream sighed, and allowed the request, knowing who and what the tree was. Knowing well that since Nightmare would likely never feel the light of day again-since he now can’t see it, he could give this small mercy.

Nightmare walked over to the tree, feeling the circle part around him as he used his tendrils as walking sticks. Each one covering a side of his body and helping to support his balance. Time slowed as he walked up the shallow hill that held the tree of feelings.

A goopy skeletal hand rested on it, seemingly looking for something, he circled the tree once before finding what he was looking for. A small engravement that had long been willowed by father time, but could still be found he felt if you knew where it was.

Tracing the groove, he gave a light smile. “D and NM, BFF” was what he had traced, he couldn’t see it, but he was almost sure that Dream was behind him, also looking at it. He could feel the shadow behind him as it chilled down his back from the hot sun.

“Goodbye, creator.” Nightmare muttered, loud enough for Dream to hear, but not for anyone else. This was one of the few things they and they alone shared, and it was going to stay that way.

He could hear his fellow guardian sigh as he mumbled the same.

“Ink, Cross.” Dream called out, seemingly an order.

A moment later two people had his arms, his tendrils swayed contently behind him, finally getting a break from helping their owner.

It was depressingly silent the rest of the walk, but after an eternity, he felt himself be lowered onto a cold floor and the sound of metal clanking against each other. His magic seemed to way down on him and his tendrils slowly shrunk into his form, the cell had been made with positive energy, keeping Nightmare weak.

The footsteps left, he was alone once more. The cold stone his only comfort left.

  


\-----

  


“Here.” Horror’s gruff voice rung out as he felt two objects pressed into his hands. One was round and smooth while the other was crusty and crunched if he squished it. Bread and an apple. Nightmare took them gratefully, quietly eating without complaint.

He finished off the two meager pieces of food to feel something else be pushed into his hands. It was cold and had many groves, he could feel droplets on the outside. Trusting Horror, he took a sip to find it was water, and then gingerly took it into his own hands until he finished it off.

“You aren’t complaining? Though you didn’t like this stuff.” Horror asked, tone questioning but for some reason stern.

Nightmare finished off the last of the water in the bottle and quietly handed it back to his ex-team-mate.

“I know from both my experience and yours to not take food for granted. Beggars can’t be choosers.” Nightmare answered without hesitation, sitting still with his only eye closed, seemingly wanting to rest or letting this peaceful moment relax his nerves.

“Your experience?” Horror menaced, not believing his old boss.

“I’ve lost many things with my sight. One of those things being the ability to protect myself, something that I had regretfully taken for granted.” Nightmare started, “Without being able to protect myself, I can’t steal food for myself. I can’t even get seeds to grow my own. Without sight, I can’t even get a glass down without breaking it.”

Regretfully, he had taken many things for granted. Although, his teammates weren’t one of those. He had however taken the protection and the enjoyment of being able to see for granted. He could very well hear, feel, smell, and touch things as well as taste if he really wanted to- but the enjoyment of being able to see all of it to complete the picture was something he missed dearly now.

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

“Why would I lie to one of the few people that’s ever trusted me? It’s not like I own a choice, however, there is a clear taste of truth serum in this.” Horror sighed, accepting Nightmare’s reasoning.

The heavy footsteps of Horror started to walk away, but before they were fully gone, he let Nightmare know that Dream was going to come and talk to him soon.

  


\-----

  


“How do you feel about your actions?” Dream interrogated, going straight to the point.

Nightmare jumped, not expecting the positive skeleton as he hadn’t heard the footsteps. After calming he looked over to where he heard the voice, he waited to see if Dream would elaborate, but nothing followed.

“What actions exactly? Creating chaos? Killing the village? Or is it as you called it, forcing others to work for me?” Nightmare asked, voice indifferent but deeply wanting to be angry, but only for the accusation of him not taking care of his boys.

“Everything.”

Nightmare pondered over his answer quietly, not really expecting the answer to be everything. He could try and lie, but he knew that wouldn’t work. He could feel the truth serum messing with his thoughts and pulsing through his body.

“Are you just trying to hurt my pride or do you want an actual answer?” Nightmare questioned, knowing he could still ask those as they were neither truth nor lie.

“An answer.”

“Depressed from the abuse I got from the village, but terrible but happy the village is gone, upset at myself for letting me fall into a blind insanity after I ate the apples, disgusted at remembering my past actions- all the torture and utter destruction, even more terrible after remembering I put you in stone.

“Neutral on helping the chaos here and there, since, without it, I wouldn’t exist. Happy for being able to help the few I did, finding Killer and offering a place where he could be taken care of getting help for his insanity. Happy I was able to get to Error and help his problems and give him a place where he could be happy and himself. Happy I at least tried to give Ink some help.

“Happy I was able to get to Horror and scream before it was too late and give them the support and care as well as the love they needed. Happy I found Dust and was able to lower his DT and break him away from his toxic Papyrus. Proud I was able to help Cross when Ink wouldn’t-”

“Why proud with Cross?” Dream interrupted, curious to the answer.

“Because I saw myself in him. A lone boy with no one else, his only friend unable to see the help he needs, used and abandoned, broken almost beyond any repair possible. I wasn’t going to let the cycle repeat on another innocent.” Nightmare answered honestly, leaving Dream agape.

They stayed in silence for some time, and then Dream asked Nightmare to continue.

“I feel upset about how you can’t understand my view and refuse to even try and know my side of the story, I feel angry at letting myself get hurt like this. I feel depressed at losing the only real family I ever had. I feel like one day you’re going to kill me off because you don’t need me anymore.”

Dream hurriedly ran away and the door slammed. Nightmare swore he heard a sob before it closed.

  


\-----

  


Three pairs of echoing footsteps came into the room and sat down little ways in front of him. He could feel each of their energies, he knew each well.

One was filled with anxiety and indifference, as well as confidence and depression. Something they had been working to help before he left to be with the Star sans’.

Another had underlying self-doubt and self-hatred, there was also a high feeling of power emitting from him. He was strong, but even the strong can be mentally weak. They had been working on that together too.

The last was the first he ever took in, he had a relaxed but somehow crazed energy, strong but secretly depressive. It was a struggle to stop the self-harm and hatred- but they managed. Although, there was a slight pain to his aura. Something he had felt come from him many times before.

“Killer? Have you been cutting again?” Nightmare asked, his mask of indifference slipping. He could hear a slight rustle and what sounded like Killer pushing down the sleeves of his jacket farther, a quiet no sounded back to him. Nightmare sighed, “You know this isn't your fault-”

“But I could’ve-” Killer tried to counter, but was stopped when Nightmare raised his hand, asking for silence.

“I let myself get hurt. Everything that followed after is my fault. You shouldn’t blame yourself for what you couldn’t stop or didn’t do. There’s a lot of things I could’ve done but didn’t. Don’t stay in the past.” Nightmare explained, still calm as ever.

Killer eventually let go of the sleeve, Nightmare scooted over and grabbed his friend’s arms through the bars and despite not having a lot of negative energy, healed Killer’s wounds. He felt exhausted afterward, but it was worth it. Besides, Dream hates him enough that even with the positive cell he can still feel it.

“Dust, has phantom bothered you any?” Nightmare asked, wanting to know why the other felt more depressed than usual.

“No-” Dust rushed but then sighed, “Yeah, paps has. It wasn’t long after we… left. Dream didn’t know-”

“He doesn’t know what to do because he doesn’t try. We both know you can fight against Phantom, what was he trying this time?”

“Convince me to f-finish you o-off.” Dust answered, on the verge of tears, not wanting to think back to it.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” Nightmare coaxed, going over to give the other a half-hug through the bars. “You fought back. You didn’t do it. You got him to go away. It’s the first time you’ve done it on your own! I’m so proud Dust.” Nightmare gave a fatherly smile, truly proud of Dust and his accomplishment.

Nightmare turned his head to the final person in the room, he could feel the anxiety both build up and disappear on the skeleton.

“Cross? How have you been? Something on your mind that you need to talk about?” Nightmare asked, giving the monochrome skeleton a consoling look, or at least, a look in his general direction.

“...You saw yourself in me when we first met?” Cross asked hesitantly, hearing about it from Dream.

Nightmare sighed, knowing that this would one day happen, thankfully, he was well prepared for it.

“Yes, I did. What I saw that day was a broken and abandoned person, someone that needed help and care. Someone with only one friend and even that one friend couldn’t see the help they needed. I offered you the family I never had. I offered you the help I never got. I gave you what you needed so the cycle of abuse wouldn’t happen on another innocent.” Nightmare started, “But today, Cross,”

“I see a grown man that has come a long way to get to the spot he is. I see someone that with the help he needed, became an amazing and inspiring person. You don’t need to be anxiec, Cross. We’re here. You have nothing to worry about now.”

Cross opened the door to the cell and gave Nightmare a tight hug. Crying soft thank yous into the kings old and tattered hoodie.

  


\-----

  


It was late, but Nightmare could feel the pressure and calm weight on top of him as his boys slept around him. All of them refusing to sleep anywhere else, and struggling to sleep anywhere else as well. Their beds felt too warm, being alone felt too cold. With Nightmare, they felt warm care but the comfort they gained from his cold and relaxed aura.

Nightmare stayed awake, contently listening to their sleeping snores and helping when he felt one of them have a night terror. Visting their dream’s where he could finally see his boys, the only place where he could still see, dreams let the craziest things happen.

Echoing footsteps came down the hall and stopped in front of his currently open cell.

“You really care for them, don’t you?” Dream’s voice rung, quiet enough to not wake the sleeping skeletons around him, but loud enough for Nightmare to hear.

“You caught me, look at the cold brute of an emotionless King, caring for 4 others like his own sons. Tell the news of this new amazing story that no one will ever believe because this negative skeleton can’t be himself.” Nightmare’s sarcastic voice replied, going more truthful at the end.

It hurt Dream knowing what he was planning to do soon. But surely, it’d hurt Cross, Error, Dust, Horror, and Killer the most.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this one-shot :)


End file.
